As utterly as corny as that is, last night the message of unity seemed to work.

Minutes before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Vancouver, “We Are the World: 25 for Haiti” premiered before a genuinely global audience. An update of the icon tune, the new version is charity single to benefit victims of last month’s earthquake in Haiti.

Taking over for Quincy Jones, producers Wyclef Jean and RedOne have mostly recreated Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s arrangement with new stars. But oh, what new stars they are: Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Nettles, P!nk, Nicole Richie, the Jonas Brothers, an auto-tuned Lil Wayne (who’s prison bound after he recovers from dental surgery). And the list went on and on in an overkill of super celebs, random actors (Vince Vaughn) and a few B-listers (Katharine McPhee).

Of course it was the soloist, just like in original, who got the focus.

Jennifer Hudson’s voice boomed above the rest, and Celine Dion’s pipes, while often mocked, are made for emotive stuff like this. Janet Jackson dueted, in a slightly creepy moment, on a split screen with her late brother, using archival footage of MJ from the original 1985 shoot. The craziest soloist didn’t make the TV clip, but you can hear T-Pain’s voice electronically shimmer and shake on wearetheworldfoundation.org .

The highlight of the remake was the added rap by West, Will.I.Am, LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg and others (The video clip aired only contained a slice of the longer version available for download from World 25 and iTunes .) While not really “Fight the Power,” it gave the song an edge and urgency missing from the original. And leave it to Kanye to deliver the strongest emotional punch rhyming, “12 days no water what’s your will to live.” It was a sober reminder of just what kind of good this single can do.

All proceeds are going to the We Are the World Foundation, which will distribute the money to charities doing earthquake relief in Haiti.